U.S. authorities are seeking to extradite an American man arrested in Thailand for the widely publicized 1996 murder of a six-year-old beauty queen.

The district attorney in the southwestern city of Boulder, Colorado, Mary Lacy, said Thursday there is more work to be done now that suspect John Mark Karr is in custody. He faces charges in the murder, kidnapping and child sexual assault of JonBenet Ramsey.

Lacy said legal matters must be resolved in order to extradite the 41-year-old schoolteacher to the
United States.

On Wednesday, Karr spoke to reporters in Bangkok shortly after Thai police revealed that he had confessed to killing JonBenet. In his first public comments, he said he was with the girl when she died, and that he loved her.

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Colorado. Investigators had suspected JonBenet's parents in the killing. They were never charged, but the suspicion lasted for years.